


Who needs "normal" when you've got this?

by Alex_Write



Series: Spideypool Fics [10]
Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Acceptance, Asexual Character, Asexual Peter, Father-figure Tony, Good Guy Tony, M/M, No established relationship, Peter is just figuring out his feeeelllliiinnngggssss, Sad Peter, Validation, ace peter, ace-character, everything is rainbow and cupcakes by the end, no active spideypool, stop picking on peter, understanding Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26839801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_Write/pseuds/Alex_Write
Summary: Another ace-Peter story!After a long, uncomfortable day of high school, Peter goes to the Tower wondering if something was actually wrong with him. Enter Tony. If he can invent and do Science! while having no sleep then surely he can fix any problem that Peter might be having...and if he can't then he knows Pepper can.
Series: Spideypool Fics [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/962265
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Who needs "normal" when you've got this?

**Author's Note:**

> Normal (for me) notes apply. 
> 
> This has not been beta-read. I've only done minimal proof reading and definitely haven't edited like I should. I've done by best to catch errors, but things slip through.
> 
> Comment and leave kudos if you want (don't if you don't). Thanks for reading :)

Peter groaned as he shuffled into the main living room of Avengers Tower, throwing his heavy school backpack in the corner. After having accidentally tripping Bruce with his precariously placed backpack, Peter was always careful to keep it out of the way now, but that didn’t mean he had to actually put it away. Especially not when he’d had a day like this.

Flopping onto one of the couches, he eyed the kitchen area. He was hungry - he was almost always hungry - but getting up and getting food required effort. Effort he wasn’t sure he had the energy for at the moment. But going into the kitchen also meant binge eating his feeling away, which was always a plus since it didn’t seem he could actually get fat anymore thanks to his increased metabolism from the spider bite. It really was a win-lose situation, and he was quite comfortable.

A bag dangling in his face alerted him to the fact that he wasn’t actually alone in the room, something he hadn’t actually realized. Letting his eyes move up from the bag of Cheeto puffs to the hand holding them then up the arm to the older man leaning over the back of the couch, Peter couldn’t help the small smile at seeing Tony there.

Tony’s hair was sticking up in all directions and the dark circles under his eyes were borderline purple. It was obvious that he hadn’t been to sleep any time recently, though that didn’t surprise Peter. It wasn’t like Tony was well known for his good sleep habits, and the coffee cup clutched in Tony’s hand would ensure that the genius stayed up for a little while longer without actually falling over. Sometimes Peter had to wonder though if Tony was actually just made of coffee now, the man drank so much.

“Stop looking so down, Petey. Your hot aunt will kill me if she knew that I let your sit here and mope all depressed like when she entrusted her most precious nephew to my tender care while she was away for training. So what’s wrong and what can I buy to make it better?”

Peter couldn’t help but scoff at the over the top way Tony waggled his eyebrows, but he accepted the snack graciously and didn’t bother moving as Tony rounded the couch and sat down next to him. 

Ripping open the snack bag, Peter shoveled a handful of the puffs into his mouth to delaying answering. He couldn’t help but scratch his nose as he chewed, a nervous tick that he knew he had and hadn’t been able to stop doing (even if it meant getting Cheeto dust on his nose, judging by the fond eye roll and quick swipe of Tony’s thumb over his nose). “It’s not something that money can fix, Mr. Stark. Just had a bad day at school, normal teenager stuff.”

Tony’s eyebrows seemed to raise to his hairline as he pointed at Peter’s face, close enough to almost poke his eye out. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said Petey. First of all I’ve told you to stop calling me Mr. Stark, it makes me feel old. Second of all, money can totally fix everything. And third, you didn’t actually answer my question. Now don’t brush me off, I’m a genius and I can fix everything and if I can’t then I can talk to Pepper who can fix all the squishy stuff.”

Peter almost laughed at that, pushing Tony’s hand away from his face. It was true that Tony had been asking him to stop calling him Mr. Stark for a while, but Peter had a hard time doing so. He’d looked up to Tony for long, idolized his brilliant mind and his accomplishments. When Tony had disappeared in Afghanistan, Peter had been worried and when Tony had returned and decided to turn his mind to bettering the world Peter had been inspired. Calling him by his first name…Peter didn’t think he was actually capable of that. 

As for the rest…well Peter wasn’t actually sure if Tony was joking or not. Sometimes Tony showed that he was actually more down to earth than people he thought, but then he turned around and bought giant bunny stuffed animals for Petter that could barely fit inside the house. 

“It’s stupid, Mr. Stark. Really.” Peter hedged before catching a look at Tony’s rare serious face and crumbling slightly. “Some kids at school were just being mean, nothing unusual. We were sitting through a health lecture and one of them decided it would be funny to piped up about the fact I haven’t had sex. I mean…it’s none of their business anyway, but I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal. Everyone was laughing though and I didn’t understand and I guess it showed. I still don’t understand, I mean…why do people even have it? It’s not that interesting and how do you even know that you want to have sex with someone anyway? Do people just look at each other and suddenly decide they want to have sex? Is there something that I’m just missing about all of this?”

Peter couldn’t help the flow of words leaving his mouth all of a sudden, his eyes almost desperate as he turned to face Tony, almost begging for answers. He knew that Tony liked sex, hell the man’s reputation was almost as much as about sex as it was his brilliant mind. Peter had just never understood it and hadn’t really paid it any mind.

Tony didn’t answer at first, looking at Peter with a blank expression that slowly morphed into an almost tender look that Peter wasn’t sure he’d seen before. 

“Kid, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, and I want you to try and be honest with me, but I have a few questions for you.” Peter startled at that and his nerves flared. Tony liked sex, he was unabashedly out about that and it worried Peter that Tony would find his lacking of want on the matter something funny, like everyone at school had. A hand on his knee calmed him slightly, though, and Peter’s brown eyes met Tony’s.

There wasn’t judgement in that gaze, at least not that Peter could see. He wasn’t actually sure what he saw, but it wasn’t what the other kids at school had shown.

Taking a deep breath, Peter managed a jerky nod of acceptance.

“Okay…okay…” Tony took a deep breath, almost as if he was doing so for Peter. “Have you ever looked at someone and just found them…really attractive? Made blood rush downwards and you just this overwhelming urge?” 

Peter furrowed his brow, wondering what Tony was talking about and trying to stay calm. “I don’t know what you mean, what urge?” 

It seemed to be answer enough as Tony let out a puff of air and moved his hand back to hold his coffee cup. “Okay, how about this. Have you ever looked at a girl and wanted to kiss them or hold their hand, or be around them constantly, or just…I don’t know what normal people do…cuddle with them or something equally sappy?” 

Peter wrinkled his nose this time, trying to think. He wasn’t really sure that he understood still, but he guessed so. He thought about MJ briefly before his thoughts moved to Wade and he couldn’t help but flush. If he was being honest then he would have to admit that with Wade he wouldn’t mind some of those things. The time he spent with Wade was probably some of the best moments in his life, at least he thought so. He liked spending time with him and had found himself daydreaming on occasion about getting the chance to just curl up on a couch with Wade to watch The Golden Girls or trashy reality TV. Getting food with him made his heart beat faster and just hanging out on the roof tops after a night of patrolling Queens relaxed something in Peter that he was never aware of being tense to start with.  
Tony pointed at him again (this time from a safe distance) with an “ah-ha” look on his face.

“Not a girl,” Peter blurted out, waving his hands as if warding off something and subsequently dropping the bag of Cheetos, scattering a few puffs over the couch. “Uh…a guy…there’s this guy…sometimes when I’m with him it’s like there are butterflies in my stomach and sometimes I have to stop myself from asking him if he just wants to come over to watch trash TV and sometimes I just want to drape myself over him. But I’ve never…the other thing…the thing you said before, that isn’t something that I’ve felt.”

Tony nodded as if that explained everything. As far as Peter could guess, maybe his word vomit had explained everything to Tony. Except for the fact that it didn’t really explain anything to Peter. 

“What you feel for Wade - don’t you go looking startled Petey, I’ve seen the way you let him hang all over you - is romantic attachment. Have you heard of asexuality, though? Because the rest of it…yeah I’m pretty sure you’re asexual from the reactions you’re giving me and no, it doesn’t mean you’re broken.”

Peter mulled over the word slowly. He was pretty sure that he’d heard the word before, in passing. It took a moment before he placed it to a biology class a few years back, they’d been covering the different type of reproduction cycles of organisms. He vaguely recalled the teacher talking about a type of lizard that had no male population, the females reproducing asexually. 

It took a moment to figure out how that applied to him. He was pretty sure that Tony wasn’t suggesting that he could reproduce like those lizards, that would just be bizarre. But he could sort of see how it would correlate with other terms that he’d heard in the past: bisexual, homosexual, and heterosexual. Those were terms that he was familiar with. If he had to guess then that would mean that someone who was asexual just wasn’t attracted to anyone. But that’s what the case, was it? He liked Wade, as much as it embarrassed him, he could admit that.

He wanted to do all those gooey things that Tony had mentioned and always wanted Wade to be around. He just didn’t have to have sex with him. 

“Wouldn’t asexual mean that I’m not attracted to anyone then? That I wouldn’t want…romantic attachments?” It was easier to spit out the question than Peter had guessed, though he figured that he couldn’t be anymore embarrassed than he already was. He was, after all, having a form of the “birds and bees” talk with Tony, who he saw as a father-figure in many ways and who was his mentor.

Tony just shook his head, obviously not uncomfortable with the subject. “Not necessarily, Petey. Take it from a sex-pert. Sexuality is very complicated. Some people can feel sexual attraction, but no romantic. Other people can feel sexual attraction to only those of a different sex, but can form romantic attachments to both genders. Then you have some that it’s only one gender for both, or both genders for both. Then there are people like you - or at least what I’m theorizing is you. People who feel no sexual attraction at all, but form romantic attachments. Hell you might even be Demi-sexual, which falls under the asexual branches, and just don’t realize it yet because you’ll only feel sexual attraction after you form an emotional attachment.”

Peter’s head felt like it was swimming from the information. But one thing stuck out to him. “The bottom line though, bud, is that at the end of the day it’s fine. While you might not be normal you’re not abnormal and completely fine to be just as you are. Screw everyone else.”

Something in Peter relaxed, letting him sag back against the couch. It was like a knot inside of him had unraveled and the pieces of the ever confusing puzzle were finally snapping in place. 

He had a name for what he felt, a name for the difference he knew that he had when all the other people his age were pairing up and experimenting together. Even just having a name was a relief, to know that he wasn’t alone because if there was a name that must mean that there were other people like him. Having Tony show that it was okay too…his mentor and the person he looked up to saying that it was okay, that was even better.

Smiling brightly, Peter couldn’t help but letting himself flop over onto Tony - who let out an overexaggerated grunt, but didn’t push him off. 

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

Tony ruffled his hair gently before picking a Cheeto puff out of the bag resting in Peter’s lap, chasing it down with a long, loud slurp of coffee.

“Just don’t ever let me catch Wade and you snuggling in the tower and definitely don’t let me ever find that menace in my lab. I might have to disown you, hot Aunt or not. Now what do you say do getting off me and going to the lab to look over some wiring I did in one of the gauntlets? Pepper had informed me that I need a second pair of eyes to look at it before I test it because the last time I tried tweaking them after not sleeping I accidentally blew up the lab.”

Peter laughed and rolled off Tony, landing on his feet and scattering more Cheeto puffs. One of the cleaning bots would get it, he was sure, so he just helped Tony up off the couch with a quick yank and headed to the lab. Everything was fine, because even if he wasn’t completely normal he was in good company. Who needed sex anyway when you had bad guys to chase down, trash Mexican food to eat, and a genius who let you in their top of the line lab?


End file.
